Anwar put in bad light over social media

PORT DICKSON: Detractors wasted no time, making use of social media to thwart Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s chances for a political comeback.

Just two hours after Pakatan Harapan said it would monitor social media to neutralise attempts to sabotage the PKR presidentelect’s campaign for the Port Dickson byelection, a post went viral. It claimed that Anwar sodomised an Indonesian student in Singapore recently.

Anwar’s team, led by PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil, quickly denied the allegation which among others, claimed that the victim had lodged a police report.

“It was only a short while ago that I asked the media to be wary of such fake news,” Fahmi said in a text message.

Earlier, at a press conference, Fahmi said Pakatan would monitor social media platforms to ensure there were no attempts to sabotage Anwar’s campaign.

He said this was necessary as there were attempts in the past to discredit Anwar.

“This is not impossible because many politicians, including myself had our mobile phones and emails hacked and spammed during the May 9 polls.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be caught offguard anymore,” he told reporters.

Fahmi, who is also Lembah Pantai MP, said with the advent of technology, people could use whatever means to disparage and slander others.

He urged the media to verify reports with the Pakatan team to curb the spread of fake news.

“If 50 million people can have their Facebook accounts compromised, we too need to be on our toes. It has happened before and can happen again,” he said.

On a separate matter, Fahmi said a survey conducted by Pakatan showed that Anwar stood a “good chance” at winning the byelection.

He said voters were excited at the prospect of having the next prime minister from Port Dickson.

“Based on the turnout during nomination, the sentiment looks good for Anwar,” he said.

Fahmi said Pakatan would work on getting voters to come out in droves to cast their ballots on polling day.

“We estimate some 30% of the voters live outstation.

“So we hope they will return to exercise their rights,” he said.

Anwar will be involved in a sevencornered fight on Oct 13.

The other contenders are former Negri Sembilan mentri besar Tan Sri Isa Samad, Lt Kol (Rtd) Mohd Nazari Mokhtar from PAS, Anwar’s exaide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, Stevie Chan Keng Leong, Lau Seck Yan and Kan Chee Yuen.